Speed Bumps Before The Open Road
by I am Thalia daughter of Zeus
Summary: Jason and Annabeth are in a happy relationship until Bianca runs off with Annabeth. Jason, brokenhearted, has a hot one-night stand with Travis and a brief unhappy affair with Rachel before following the wise advice of Reyna and finding true love with Reyna. Inspired by a scenario in JamieHerondaleDaughterofHypnos's profile. T to be safe, there is nothing graphic! One-shot!


**Hello again, I know it's been a while since I've posted something, I'm sorry, please forgive me, but inspiration has come and gone as it pleases, but I had a strike of inspiration last night, really late into the night and I felt I had to write this for you guys. It's not something I think I could have written a year ago, but lately I've been emotionally and mentally maturing and I think it's for the better, so I pulled this together before I went to bed last night and called it a lovely one-shot.**

**The summary is actually the scenario I found on JamieHerondaleDaugherofHypnos's profile, and it kind of struck me with inspiration, a couple of hours later, here it is. I'm sorry if the pairings aren't something you like, but in my opinion, it isn't the worst thing I've ever written. I do truly regret playing with your shipper hearts as you read this story, it played with my own, I assure you.**

**I don't own PJO, never have, never will, never want to. Warning, OOCness coming at you, but they are all mortal.**

**For Jamie, and everyone who is now on their summer holidays, have a great summer, I hope to see you guys around FF more.**

* * *

Jason's Point of View:

"_I love you, see you tomorrow._" I smiled as my girlfriend Annabeth hung up the phone, having a girlfriend who lived on the other side of America sucked, she was three hours ahead of me, work was a huge factor in our lives, we barely saw each other, her laptop had crashed recently, so it was hard to video call, but we made it work, and tomorrow I was moving to New York to be with her.

"Excited for the move?" My best friend asked as she looked around the now-barren room, I'd known Reyna since she'd moved from Puerto Rico to California for High School, she'd moved homes several times since she was a child, and now both of us had enough money, we were moving to different places, her choosing Puerto Rico as her destination.

"Aren't you?" I asked with a smile, my latina friend joined me on the mattress that would serve as my bed for the night, most of it had been packed and taken to New York already, only a few things remained. "Reyna, we're still going to be in the same time-zone, it's not like we won't talk and _Skype_, technology was made for communicating.

"I know." Reyna played with the end of her black braid, her dark eyes solemn. "I just have this bad feeling that something's going to happen." I laughed at her, pushing a hand through my hair, I set my phone down.

"Reyna, I get that you have these bad feelings sometimes, but I'm here, I'm safe, and this time tomorrow I am going to be in the arms of a beautiful, strong, independent woman who loves me. Nothing bad could go wrong." I assured her, Reyna rolled her eyes. "All I'm saying is sometimes little girls named Reyna who have these purely co-incidental moments of predicting when bad things are going to happen can be wrong." Reyna sighed.

"I had the same bad feeling when my dad was injured by a drunk driver, I don't want to take any chances." She stood up again and began pacing the room. "Promise me that you will call the moment you are in the apartment." Reyna ordered, I laughed, she stopped pacing and stared at me determined. "Jason, _swear to me _that you will call." This time I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, okay. I swear that I will call you." I held up my phone in surrender, Reyna looked away for a moment, doubtful before crossing the room and dropping so we were at eye-level, I'd never seen her so serious, and she's almost always serious.

"You realise that you cannot back out of this, you have promised to call, and I swear by the graces of the gods, that I will _castrate you_ if you do not." I winced and nodded eagerly.

"Got it, don't call, get castrated. We're crystal clear." Reyna stood again and made her way to the door.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow." Reyna promised before leaving, I shuddered as the door closed behind her, how did she make scary sound so enthralling?

* * *

"_Jason!_ We weren't expecting you so early." Thalia, Annabeth's roommate said as she opened the door, I smiled at the blue-eyed girl, she eyed me warily. "Annabeth's not home now." Thalia said, she carefully opened the door wider to allow me in.

"I know, she has an accounting class now, I told her I was catching a later plane to surprise her." I replied, Thalia led me past the stairs to the bedrooms and into the living room. "Shouldn't I put the rest of my stuff upstairs?" I asked, Thalia didn't pause, she continued into the living room and left me no choice but to follow her. When she stopped, her eyes held the same haunted look Reyna's did when she had bad news to give.

"I don't think you want to go up there without reading something first." Thalia picked up a sheet of paper from the coffee table and passed it to me delicately. I set down my backpack and took the paper gingerly, it was a letter. "It was laying open on her desk when I woke up this morning, I know I shouldn't have read it, but I wanted to know how to react." Thalia explained, she guided me to a seat as I skimmed over the words.

_Jason,_

_Let me be the first to congratulate you on the move and welcome you to living in New York! I know it sounds hallow as I'm not there but I truly do welcome you. I hope Thalia is being a gracious hostess to you, I know you two have not always seen eye-to-eye, but as siblings you should do your best to get along._

_Now to the main point of this letter, I'm not with you now because I'm gone, I packed my bags last night and I'm leaving you, I'm sorry but I've realised that I don't love you anymore, I don't think I ever did. The thing is, I've been seeing someone, who makes me happy, her name is Bianca and we've been together for three months and we're eloping. I'm truly sorry, but this is goodbye, I hope that if we ever see each other again you're happy and have found that special someone who completes you._

_All my best wishes are on you,_

_Annabeth._

The letter crumpled in my fist as I inhaled slowly, as I exhaled I let out a swear word, Thalia shot me a sharp look but didn't say anything, I suspected she had the same reaction.

"Three months." I swore again. "She's been cheating on me for _three months_ and _she hopes I'm happy_!" My voice had raised, making Thalia flinch, but again she said nothing, I let out three more swear words before darting through the door to the hallway. "Annabeth!" I called out, hoping she was here and not in her class. "_Annabeth!_" I prayed this was just some cruel prank, a joke to make me realise how much I couldn't bear to lose her, a test of our relationship, my commitment.

"She's not here, Jason." Thalia said as she followed me out into the hallway, I ignored my sister and raced up the stairs, calling for Annabeth, Thalia chased after me, her footsteps echoing mine on the wood. When I reached the top I quickly made my way to Annabeth's door, throwing it open. It wasn't barren like my room had been yesterday, all the furniture was there, the things I'd moved over already, but Annabeth's stuff, her clothes, pictures, books, things that made it Annabeth's room, were gone. I let out another expletive.

"That's enough of that language." Thalia reprimanded, I turned to see my sister behind me, her eyes were focused on the room over my shoulder for a brief nanosecond. "Are you still in contact with Reyna?" She asked, I nodded and she tossed her phone to me. "Call her, it looks like you could use a friend now. I'll make some hot chocolate." Thalia left, allowing me to stare at her phone before punching in the number I needed most now. After three rings it picked up.

"Reyna? I hate it when you're right, something's happened." I spoke, there was a heavy moment when the latina didn't reply.

"_Which state are you in? Which hospital? Is Annabeth with you yet?_" Reyna questioned frantically, I sighed and sat down outside of the room.

"I'm safe and well, but Annabeth's left me." The first tear slipped down my face.

* * *

"Oh my gods, Jason! Put something on!" Thalia screamed, I yelped and covered myself with the blanket, ensuring Thalia could only see my startled face. My sister peeked through her fingers before covering her eyes again. "Now if you could cover your bedmate." I glanced to my left to find rich brown hair falling into green eyes, a morning shadow grew across his chin as he looked between Thalia and I.

"Where am I!" He yelled, then he looked down at himself and tugged some of the blanket over him as well, to cover himself. "Where are my clothes!"

"Who are you?" The brunette male looked in between Thalia and I, Thalia's question was spoken softly, but her face was anything but.

"I'm Travis." With that, he gathered his clothes together and bolted from the room, his footsteps thundering down the stairs.

"Jason, Jason, Jason." Thalia shook her head.

* * *

"How was your day?" The redhead asked politely, I sighed, more brain-numbing politeness.

"My day was fine, how was yours, Rachel?" I questioned in a monotone. Rachel offered me a kind smile, she didn't know she was a rebound from Annabeth, but we were both miserable in this relationship together, it had gone somewhat okay for two weeks.

"My day was good, the photocopier in textiles broke down again, so I had to walk all the way to management and finance to get the paper I needed. But I did not invite you for dinner to make small talk." Rachel confessed, her green eyes examined me much in the same way Annabeth's did. "We're not happy in this relationship, Jason, neither one of us is, so I think it's best if we... see other people." My face fell, sure, Rachel wouldn't be my first pick, I'd never had a thing for redheads, but she was nice, kind, safe.

"Um, okay." I said dumbfounded, I was dazed.

"I'll get the check." Rachel promised, I stood up, tucked my chair back in and wandered out of the restaurant, never looking back.

* * *

"_The person you are trying to call cannot be reached, please-_" I hung up, cutting off the message as I stared at the stormy sea, the waves rocked a small buoy further out of the bay, I turned away from the sea, staring at the city further behind me, storm clouds brewed above my head and over the city, torrent winds made me shiver under my jacket, the cold weather was like my latest relationships, icy and made me bitter. I turned back to the sea, a scream ripping its way out of my throat, I ran towards the sea, curving my arm like throwing a ball, the phone I intended to release remained in my hand, for some reason.

"Do you feel better now?" A sarcastic voice asked, I turned to see Reyna standing a few feet away, her hands were stuffed in her silver jacket pockets, her eyes were as stormy as the sea, but her face was blank as stone. She walked the few steps to join me and looked out at the sea. "It hurts, doesn't it." She remarked, I stared at her for a few moments, the wind blew some of her shorter hairs around, when she looked at me, she seemed resigned.

"Yeah, I'd always thought Annabeth and I would be together forever." I remarked, Reyna took a hand from her pocket and placed it on my arm.

"Life hands out more lemons than sugar canes. Those who dream for the sugarcane are most likely to get a lemon, daydreams are nothing more than the illusion we want for our lives." I sighed and removed my friend's hand from my arm, I placed the phone back in my pocket.

"Don't talk like that, have some hope." I insisted, a faint smile graced Reyna's face.

"But you know what I'm talking about, it hurts because you thought you had the sugarcane, then you bite into it and discover it's only disguised. There are no sugar canes in life, Jason, only lemons, and lemons disguised as sugar canes, we rarely get what it is we want, and we've all got to accept that." I watched Reyna as her eyes became stormy again.

"Reyna, there's someone out there for both of us, we'll meet them someday, we're just too broken for them now." I said, I reached out and touched her shoulder. "I'm going to get over Annabeth someday, it might be today, it might be tomorrow, it might be next week, but I'm going to move on." I promised her, Reyna smiled, the storm clearing from her eyes.

"Wise words." She complimented me, I returned her smile. "Don't give up on the world of love, Jason. Just, go through life, wait patiently for it to come to you, and if you find someone you care for and they're not the one for you, be happy for them, because one day, you'll find that someone too." I stared at the sea again.

"What if there's no one for me?" I asked quietly, even with the wind whistling in our ears, Reyna still heard me, she took both of my hands in her own.

"There will be someone for you, and they'll accept you for who you are, your past relationships, the ones you're going to have before you find them, and the ones your going to create when you meddle in your children's lives, and when you find that person, marry them." Tears sprung to her eyes. "Because they won't wait forever for you to man up, so be ready for them." I nodded, Reyna smiled at me before bringing my hands to her lips and blowing on them, warming them up.

"I'll be ready." I promised, Reyna pressed a quick kiss to my knuckles, making my heart jump slightly, before releasing my hands and drying her eyes.

"It's cold out here, hot chocolate's on me." I glanced out to the sea again before darting past Reyna and running towards the beachfront.

"Last one there gives the loser a piggyback!" I yelled back, Reyna snapped to attention and chased after me.

* * *

"Hello, Mrs Grace." I whispered in my bride's ear as my arms wrapped around her waist, Thalia rolled her eyes before excusing herself to talk to other people. My lovely wife turned around in my arms, the white dress hardly bothering her at all as she wrapped her arms around my neck, she smiled at me as we began swaying to the song.

"Have you decided to be selfish today, Jason Grace?" She chided with a smile, I laughed and spun her out, bringing her back to hold her close.

"Maybe." I answered with a childish smile, she returned it. "But I want you all to myself, it's supposed to be our special day, why do other people have to be here?" She laughed, a sweet sound I loved to hear.

"Because we love these people, and we chose for them to spend our day with us." I twirled my bride, making her laugh again.

"You hold a good point, _Mrs Grace_, but when we have children, not a single one of these people are celebrating with us." I declared, she smiled, leaning in close so our conversation would not be overheard.

"You've already planned our future, haven't you?" She teased, the smile lighting up her eyes told me she was happy I'd thought about this.

"Two sons, one daughter, and two dogs. Down to the very finest detail." I answered proudly, I spun her around before dipping her, I pressed a kiss to her lips before whispering in her ear. "I'm afraid you're stuck with me for a long time, Reyna. Do you still believe that life only gives lemons?"

* * *

**Okay, if you made it this far and are still reading, I hope you enjoyed, and don't hate what I've written, personally, I love the ending, I hope you did too. This just played with my emotions, especially towards the end, I felt Jason's numbness when Rachel broke up with him, the sadness when Annabeth left him, and I could feel the storm brewing inside Reyna at the beach, but the ending! All the emotions banded together to make me happy.**

**So, I'm going to say goodbye now, and I hope to have something for you guys soon.**

**Peace, Love, Happiness.**

**Love Always, Jeyna. X**


End file.
